Janice "Jan" Carolyn Gibson (Barlow) Provancha

Janice Barlow Gibson Provancha, 81, went to be with her Lord and Saviour on June 20, 2026, at her home in Denton, Texas surrounded by loved ones.

Jan, as she liked to be called, was born June 2, 1945, in Denton, TX, to Clarence ‘Hood’ Barlow and Sylvia Wankan Barlow. She grew up in Denton, attended Denton schools, and graduated from Denton High School in 1963.

Services will be at Southmont Baptist Church on Friday, July 3, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., with Brad Cockrell, Pastor, officiating. Cremation burial will be at Starkey Cemetery, Saint Jo, TX at a later date.

Jan married Richard A. Gibson of Denton on November 22, 1963, in Cole

Chapel of First United Methodist Church in Denton. He passed away on December 4, 2000. They were married for thirty-seven amazing years. She married Ed Provancha of Moscow, Idaho on February 14, 2003, in Sanger, Texas. He passed away on April 29, 2025, after twenty-two wonderful years of marriage.

Jan attended North Texas State University as an undergraduate Education major from 1963-1965. She later graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Pan American University in Edinburg, TX. She and her husband Richard returned to Denton during the summers of the 1970’s to both work towards Masters degrees. She received her Masters of Education degree from NTSU in 1972. She also took courses at Texas A & I University in Kingsville and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls.

Jan taught for thirty years at all grade levels in several Texas school districts, which

included Harlingen, San Benito, Columbus, Bay City, Palacios, Industrial, Henrietta, and Bowie. She was an Educational Specialist for two years at Region IX Education Service Center in Wichita Falls, TX, and was a curriculum coordinator for one year in Bay City, TX. Her areas of teaching included language arts, reading, writing, literature, speech and drama, and gifted and talented. She and husband Richard worked as a speech and drama team in three high schools for fourteen years. Jan retired in 1999. She positively influenced many young people during her thirty-year career.

Jan and her second husband Ed spent their marriage traveling to all fifty states, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. They especially enjoyed their Mediterranean cruise in the summer of 2017. In addition to traveling, they enjoyed singing in church choirs and community choruses, performing musical skits and duets at various events, and dancing. They were members of Triangle Squares Square Dance Club of Denton for fourteen years, Denton Community Chorus, and Denton Senior Chorus. They also managed an antique store, Mr. Ed’s Trading Post, in Argyle for three years.

Jan was a member of Denton Area Retired School Personnel, where she served as president from 2003 to 2005. She was also a member of the Montague County Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma education sorority. She was a certified Lay Speaker in the Methodist Church. Southmont Baptist Church became her home church in 2015, where she was a member of Adult 3 Sunday School Class and Southmont choir.

Wherever Jan lived, she was an active member of a church, sang in the choir, taught adult and children’s Sunday school, and served with Vacation Bible School. Her hobbies were singing, dancing, reading, writing, traveling, laughing, and enjoying visits with family and friends. She was known far and wide as the “life of the party.” She was witty, enthusiastic, generous, compassionate, and full of love. You could give her a topic and she could write a poem about it in no time. Mama Jan loved her grandchildren dearly. It would be hard to count the number of times she watched Blake, Will, Andrew, Isaac, and Lilly Kate participate in all their activities. She was their biggest fan!

In addition to her parents and husbands Richard and Ed, she was preceded in death by her son, Scott Turner Gibson, in 2024; a granddaughter, Janelle Marie Gibson, in 2006; and a brother-in-law, Cleolen Warnack, in 2022.

She is survived by a son, Lance Richard Gibson and wife, Sherry, of Giddings; a daughter-in-law, Jodie, of Ponder; four grandsons, Blake Richard Gibson of Fort Worth; William Richard Gibson and Isaac Luke Gibson of Ponder; Andrew Gibson of Princeton; and one granddaughter, Lilly Kate Gibson, of Ponder; a sister, Judy Barlow Warnack, of Denton; cousins, Joe Byron Rice, Barbara Rice Harper, Claxton Barlow, Harvey Barlow, Tricia Barlow Avis Feagan, and John Frederick; sisters- in-law, Carolyn Gibson Sparks and husband, Don; Jan Barnett and husband, Paul; Cheri Provancha and wife, Diana; nephews, Bret Warnack and wife, Jennifer; Chuck Sparks and wife, Lauren; Chad Sparks and wife, Leah; Chance Sparks and wife, Ashley; Steve Barnett and wife, Debora; nieces, Diana Manley and husband, Michael; and Kim Spivey; and many great and great-great nieces and nephews and friends.

Donations may be made to Denton ISD Public School Foundation, 1307 N. Locust, Denton, TX 76201; Argyle ISD Education Foundation, 800 Eagle Drive, Argyle, TX 76226; or Southmont Baptist Church, 2801 Pennsylvania Drive, Denton, TX 76205.